NCHC

The National Collegiate Honors Council annual conference is in Kansas City this week, so I will be there most of today and tomorrow attending some informative sessions about Honors Programs at other universities. Several of our outstanding honors students are volunteering, and two of our Honors Student Executive Board officers are running the raffle and auction tomorrow evening. This is a very exciting conference and I'm thrilled that it is in KC this year so that more of our students have the opportunity to attend!

Tibet talk

On September 22nd I was granted the opportunity to share my experiences in Tibet with my colleagues as a part of our Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning's (CETL's) International Series. This is a fantastic program initiated and directed by Dr. Kathleen Madigan, and it allows RU faculty to experience other cultures through the eyes of our colleagues. The prior installment this semester was by Dr. Myles Gartland (Helzberg School of Management), who had spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Poland with his wife and children. His talk permitted us a glimpse into European academia and his wife, Lysa, even spoke about the day-to-day challenges of being an American family in Poland. These presentations allow us a level of multicultural exposure that is gleaned vicariously through other faculty and I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of this effort. [The picture shows a Tibetan lama at Mingdrolling Monastery placing a kahta (prayer shawl) over my head as a welcoming gesture.]